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" nourishing"

" safe"

Convenient

Disadvantages

"Expensive "

Neat little nail polish pads

I do like to paint my nails and usually it is every Sunday evening I get out the nail varnish remover and give myself a mini manicure for the week ahead. I accidentally knocked over my last bottle of acetone-fuelled nail polish remover and totally spoilt my Persian rug and from that day onwards I have always used the nail polish remover pads as it was an expensive accident which I have totally regretted.

At the current time the nail polish remover pads I am using are from Boots – they are their own brand and they cost me £1.60 from Boots and they come in a small plastic circular shaped tub with an easy to remove lid. The tub only has 15 small pads in it though so cost wise it does definitely work out to be more expensive than simply using the lotion itself.

Each pad contains lanolin and vitamin E, which enrich and moisturise the nails and these ingredients really do help the nail from drying out. I tend to se one pad for each hand when I am wearing pale coloured nail polish, though if I am using a darker and harder to remove polish I may have to double this quality.

The pads are thin and yet very durable and strong and they do not break up or tear and I am quite harsh with them as I really go hard at my nails to remove all traces of polish. They remove the polish really well, really fast and they do not smudge it onto the surrounding skin around the nail area – this would be a big no no for me.

Overall, I am pleased with them as they are easy and convenient to use and a lot safer than using a bottle of liquid nail polish remover.

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Boots nail polish remover pads

These are small pads that have got nail polish remover already on them so that you can remove your nail polish without using separate balls of cotton wool and a bottle of nail polish remover.

HOW DO YOU USE THEM?

You take out one pad and use it to remove your nail polish. Boots think that one pad can do all 10 of your nails but that is not true and I have to use 2 pads at least to remove all the polish from my nails.

WHAT I THINK

I think there are not enough pads in each pot because there are only 15 and they are used up very quick if you wear nail polish every day like I do. The pads are quite thick but they are not so effective as when I use a bottle of nail polish remover and it does not feel to me like there is enough of the product soaked into each pad.

It removes many nail polishes but cannot remove some others very easy and that is a pity because I like to know that my beauty products will be versatile. I have got some glitter nail polish that I am going to start wearing alot more now it is winter but these pads cannot remove that even though the glitter is not so tough as other glitter polishes I have got.

The pads smell very bad and they make my hands smell for a long time after I have used them.

I do not like that when these pads remove my nail polish it makes it wet on the pad so I get polish on my fingers that has transferred from the pads because then I have to make an effort to remove that also and it adds time when this is a product that said it would save me time.

ANYTHING ELSE

15 nail polish remover pads costs £1.50 and I think that is a lot because you have to use more than one each time you remove your nail polish and I do not think they work very good.

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" handy pack"

Small

Disadvantages

"Not very effective"

"Smell disgusting"

"Rather mean little pads"

"Expensive per use"

A poor substitute for liquid and cotton pads

I have nice nails. I know that sounds like I’m bragging but people keep telling me that so I guess it might be true. My nails are not a feature I make much of - actually I’m in the distinctly ‘natural’ camp on all things related to make up. However, periodically - usually when I’ve received a really pretty polish in a beauty box - I kick into action and start messing with my nails.

The one thing I really can’t do is go around with chipped polish. The moment things start to look shabby I want to get the polish off and start again. That’s fine when I’m at home, but I travel a lot and I can’t trust a nail job to last even a short trip. If I go away with painted nails, I have to have some polish remover with me ‘just in case’. Since I’m a hand luggage only traveller, I’m horribly restricted in terms of the amount of liquids I can take on planes so a proper bottle of nail polish remover is out of the question. I buy nail polish remover pads and one of the types I’ve bought - and pretty much regretted - is the Boots Conditioning Nail Polish Remover Pads.

Why did I buy these? Well there’s always a Boots at any airport and they’re not very expensive. I also buy these because they look a lot like a shoe-cleaning pad of the type you often find in hotels. Hence, if I don’t put them into my resealable liquids bag, airport security usually just think it’s a shoe sponge and let it go.

I think I bought mine on offer at around a pound but the standard prices is 1.50. With fifteen pads inside, that’s 10p a pad which is a lot more expensive than using bottled remover and cotton wool pads. If you could get a whole manicure off with one - or even two - pads, it wouldn’t be too bad but these particular ones are acetone free and I typically need four or five to get rid of a decent manicure.

Acetone free might be kinder to the nails but I’m not a fan. These pads smell disgusting and they don’t work very well at all. Whilst a cotton wool ball and some liquid remover will shift even my most complex multi-layered paint jobs, these pads struggle to get rid of polish and leave me very frustrated.

I would never choose pads ahead of cotton wool and proper remover liquid but due to the travel restrictions, I keep buying things like this. If you aren’t similarly restricted, give these a miss.

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"Good for edge of nails"

Disadvantages

Messy

"Requires a bit of effort"

"Very wet"

Puny pads

I first tried Boots Nail Polish Remover Pads years and years ago, I think my mum bought them for me. I’ve bought them on and off over the years - if I’m buying nail polish remover, sometimes I’ll see these and decide to get them instead, thinking they’re more convenient than remover and cotton wool.

The nail polish remover pads come in a small tub, and are the size of an average cotton wool pad. There are 15 pads in a tub, current price is £1.50.

When you open the tub, you get a whiff of that unmistakable chemical smell of nail polish remover - unpleasant, but par for the course. I find the wipes themselves to be really quite damp, they are properly soaked in remover. They also seem very thin, certainly thinner than the average cotton wool pad.

This thinness is, I believe, a contributing factor to why I’m not very keen on these pads. I find they aren’t particularly effective. I’m sure products like this are meant to be easy to use and will wipe nail polish off with little effort, but frankly I find that a good deal of rubbing is involved - and not just with these pads, but with standard nail polish remover on cotton wool as well. However, if I compare these pads to other alternatives that I have used, I think they need more effort than nail polish on cotton wool. I think that the thicker cotton wool enables you to rub your nails more effectively, therefore getting the polish off more easily. The nail polish remover pads do work, they do remove nail polish, but not as easily as you might hope.

Additionally, I find that as these pads are really quite wet, they tend to be messier than cotton wool - the polish which is removed gets spread around on the pad, and my fingertips end up coloured by it.

The pads are labelled as “conditioning”. I don’t think they make any difference to the condition of my nails at all - compared to standard nail polish remover that is. My nails after using either product are in the same condition.

I should point out though that these pads make it easier to get at the nail polish right on the edges of my nails easier than cotton wool, because they are thinner.

A bottle of nail polish remover used with a few bits of cotton wool is considerably more economical than these pads, and generally more effective as well. Every so often I buy these pads - and then remember that although they sound like an easy way of removing nail polish, they’re actually not that brilliant. Maybe now that I have collected my thoughts for this review, I’ll remember not to buy them next time.

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Ok for an emergency

I used to work across the road from a Boots and as I wasn't allowed towear polish on my nails if I ever forgot to remove it I could just run across the road. Here are my thoughts.

The PackagingThese all come in a little plastic tubs and in various colours indicating what that particular pad is meant to do. For example conditioning, strengthening or acetone free. There is no lining in the tub just the plain plastic. This means if the top is not screwed on properly these cannot smells out your handbag but they can also fall out.

The wipes The first thing you notice about these wipes is the smell. They are easily as strong as a bottle of nail polish remover. This is very inconvenient as you are trying to use on a train or at work and everyone can smell this. This also tastes disgusting and this can hang around until the hands have been washed a number of times. So don't have your lunch straight away!

The next thing these do is leave what feels like awful residue on the hand, so although this doesn't stain anything it is really uncomfortable and very drying to the hands and fingertips.

Despite these issues the pads takes the polish off the nails really well be actually leaves them with a slight shine it really is conditioning. I can use use these to take polish off the skin. One wipe is generally required for one hands worth of nails.

Top tipIf you have used a remover wipe do not out it back in the tub as it stains all of the others and from there on they stain the nails next time you use one.

Price and AvailabiltyThese can be bit from Boots instore and online and cost around £1.50 for 25 wipes. I think this is fair value and would definitely help you out in a stitch, particularly as there are Boots stores at a number of train stations.

Conclusion These are not my favourite but they have got me out of some very sticky situations, but there are a lot of issues here.

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Too much effort and mess

Why did I buy these?I was on the hunt for a small but secure nail polish remover to take on holiday. I have previously had issues with big bottles of nail polish removing liquids spilling so wanted an alternative. So bottles are OK for having at home, standing upright in the bathroom cabinet, but for taking on holiday I wanted something a bit more secure. So after looking at the nails section on boots I popped these in my basket.

Packaging and design:The ones I have actually come in a black container, it's still the same shape as the one pictured above but just in case you are looking for them, go by the name on the label as it looks like the packaging may have been through a couple of revamps in past years. They come in a small round tub with a screw lid. The container is 6cm wide and 2cm deep so it small and really doesn't take up much room. The lid secures really tight and although the pads are moist, they aren't actually totally wet so no leakage, you can't even smell them once the lid is secured. There is a sticker on the lid that takes up nearly the full size that simply states "Conditioning Nail Polish Removing Pads" on the back there is a list of ingredients and advises that they are flammable. The packaging is really quite simple and you can easily identify what this product does (or should do). As the lid opens up to reveal the full size of the tub you can easily get the pads out as the pads are slightly smaller than the tub, you can get your finger in the edge to pick one out so that's handy. They are also really light so won't tip you over the edge with your baggage allowances. The plastic that the tub is made out of isn't slippery so you can easily grip it to open the pot, no faffing about trying to open it. As I got the black tub I thought this looked quite stylish but even the one in the picture would appeal to a wide age range.

Did they do the job?Ok so they 2 stars for being in an easily accessible tub and the tub itself is light weight, however....The pads are approx. 5.55cm wide and really flimsy. You really need to wipe your finger nail thoroughly over and over and over again to get the nail polish moved, then it goes all over your hands. Unlike when you use cotton wool to take off your nail polish, the polish has nowhere to go but across your fingers, it doesn't drain away, so as soon as one bit has polish on it, it spreads everywhere. When I tried to take off red polish it looked like I was in a murder scene, red all over my fingers and hands. The pads are really oily and greasy which doesn't help with the spreading of removed polish. So if you are using these I would advise using them over a sink so you can wash your hands as you go. Forget trying to remove glitter polish with these pads, when I did it tore holes in the pads. I only continued to use these as I was on holiday and had nothing else with me to use and wanted to keep painting my nails different colours. The residue that is left on your fingers when you use this is quite nasty, I had some on my hands and forgot and went to use the TV remote and it actually melted a tiny imprint of my finger print on the back of the remote (thankfully the hotel never noticed haha) so after seeing that I was extra careful not to touch anything until I was finished and washed my hands thoroughly straight after. These pads also have a really unusual sickly and "fruity" smell. If you remember what Jolly Ranchers smell like that will give you an idea. If you went to the actual Jolly Rancher factory and sniffed a big vat of the mix, that's what hits you when you open the tub. Which is OK at first but after a good 20 mins of scrubbing your nails it can make you feel a bit queasy. So technically they do get nail polish OFF your nails, it's just a pity they then put it all over your hands. If for some reason you just wanted to remove toe nail polish, not your finger nails, forget it. As soon as you have these in your hands they remove any polish they come anywhere near so be careful.

Overall this is not a great product. The packaging design, size and price are good but the actual product (the nail polish removing pads) are a lot of hard work with not very good results. 2 stars on for packaging, design and price, 3 stars off for mess, effort and smell.

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Effective nail polish remover pads

Recently I've taken to painting my nails more and more and because I'm prone to chipping or simply getting bored and deciding to repaint a new colour, and so because of this I also need nail polish remover. Usually I'll just use a bottle of remover and dab i onto cotton pads, but its obviously a lot more convenient to buy them ready done and so I decided to try out these pads a few months back.

I usually wear dark purples and blacks and so removing can be a little tricky sometimes. I often get a smearing effect when I wipe off the nail polish and so have to dab around to remove this also. I tend to use a lot of nail polish remover, even when applying as I'm awfully bad at it and usually use a cotton bud to wipe around the edges as I always create a very splodged effect. As such I require a remover with conditioning effects or else my nails would be in terrible condition and these pads really do give me this. My nails do look visibly moisturised compared with some other nail polish removers which leave them very dry and worn out looking. The pads are really soaked through and so your fingers basically get bathed in the remover which means it is quicker and also that you get to experience much more of that conditioning effect.

The pads are circular and there are 15 pads to a box. 15 doesn't sound like a lot but in my experience you can use both sides of the pad and they last for more than one finger at a time. To be honest, the convenience of it all and not having to soak cotton pads yourself makes it worth the money for me, even if I get less for my money, as I am often clumsy and can spill the remover and it does strip out the colours in things. This is just much simpler and much more convenient. Similarly, its also much quicker to remove with these pads. I tend to wrap them around my fingers and twist it a little so that it corkscrews around and this helps to remove the nail polish much quicker in my experience. It does mean obviously you get more of the remover on your skin but I don't feel worried about loads of chemicals seeping through as the remover just doesn't feel quite so clinical when I use it. There is no acetone also which is reasuring. The pads are quite thin and so this makes the wrapping I choose to do much easier, and also despite the thinness they tend to not rip. The pads also last much longer in terms of actually removing than ordinary cotton pads which I find start to come apart or wears through. A pad tends to bond together much better and this means they can be used much more easily.

Removing darker colours takes longer and can require more pads but the same can be said with ordinary cotton pads also. I find that there is less staining on my nails after using these, perhaps because they tend to coat the nail with a really enrinched liquid layer. When I use clear or light colours like pink it comes off almost immediately and can be a really quick job.

Overall I would recommend this product as it does exactly what it says it does and also has the added conditioning benefits. The price is quite reasonable at around £1.50 for a box of 15, but I would prefer the box came with more pads. That said its quite easy to just grab two, and like I said you can use the pads on more than one nail so they are relatively economical. Its quick and easy to remove nail polish, the only variant being if I happen to be wearing dark or light polish.

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Nail polish remover pads

These promise to remove traces of nail polish quickly and with no fuss, while at the same time conditioning the nails. Good promise since they are nail polish removers!

PRODUCT AND PACKAGING...

The pads come packaged in a round tub with the name of the product on the lid and information and instructions on the base. The lid is a screw on/off type and when I unscrew the lid, the 15 smallish circular pads are lying neatly inside the plastic tubs, one on top of each other. I take a bit of a sniff, expecting them to small like nail polish remover but am pleasantly surprised as there is none of that strong acetone smell, and they do in fact smell a little bit fruity; that could be overstating the pleasantness of the smell but its definitely an ok smell.

The pads are very closely packed together so when I go to take one out its pretty easy to inadvertently take two. Unfortunately when separating them, nail polish does come off on the pad underneath. Once a pad is taken from the rest of the pile they are actually wetter than I imagined them to be, and certainly feel that they are well covered in nail polish remover.

HOW TO USE THEM...

Firstly wipe each nail with a single stroke of the pad and then work back through each nail with a firm rubbing action to remove all traces of nail polish. Because the pads are wet, I find that when I use them the skin around the nail becomes wet and slightly stained with the colour of the polish I am wearing at the time. The nail polish does come off easily but at the end of the removal process I have to use another pad to completely clean my fingers. Fortunately though, it hasn't caused any skin irritation.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY...

These are available in Boots stores and also online at www.boots.com. They cost £1.50 for 15 pads and since it usually takes me 4 pads to remove all polish they are more expensive than normal nail polish remover.

VERDICT...

The nail polish remover pads are effective but for me they are quite messy because they are so wet and so my fingers tend to get a tad stained with the nail polish. When I use them, I find that the best way to remove the polish is to hold the pad on the nail for a few seconds to loosen the polish before wiping off the nail polish completely.

They are definitely handy to have in the house and especially useful for travelling. Because they are conditioning, I find that my nails and nail bed do not dry out and so especially in the winter months my nails don't become flaky and dry.

They are a tad pricey and for this and the sheer wetness of them I think they drop a star.

Thanks for reading

Daniela xx

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A nail polish remover product that I will buy again..!

I regularly paint my fingernails with a variety of shades which are predominately quite dark, favouring shades of blood red and dark purple amongst others. Whilst I adore this look, I do find that wearing such dark colours can cause 'bleeding' of the colour during it's removal which is highly annoying and irritating. Not only that, but I find these colours can often 'run' easily from the fingernails when the colour is being removed and this causes the dark colours to stain the fingertips. This is rather time-consuming to correct, as it requires the use of copious amounts of nail polish remover lotion together with huge quantities of cotton wool, before the stained fingertips are restored to their natural shade.

Given my experiences of the annoyance associated with removing such dark colours from my fingernails, I have been delighted with the results achieved from a new product I had purchased to try out, and this review outlines my experiences.

Available from Boots, the "Conditioning Nail Polish Remover Pads" are available to purchase in branches of Boots, in addition to being available on their website at www.boots.com. The normal price for the product is only £1.50, and this is for the small plastic tub that contains 15 pads.

The packaging comprises of a black tub that is made of robust plastic, which differs from the blue tub shown at the top of the Dooyoo page here, so I can only presume that the product has undergone a bit of a 'facelift' in recent times. The top part of the tub can be turned quite easily to reveal the bottom part of the tub that contains the pads inside. I have never really encountered any problems with using the product or opening/closing the packaging, even though I suffer with limited mobility and weakness in my hands.

The tub only contains 15 individual pads as I mentioned before, and this did make me hesitate slightly before I purchased the item, due to my experience with removing extremely dark coloured nail polish from my fingernails. I have found that several cotton wool pads or balls that are soaked in a nail polish remover solution will be required to adequately remove all traces of dark nail polishes, and I therefore wondered if the Boots Nail Polish Remover pads were going to prove to be an economical purchase. I did wonder how long 15 small pads were going to last with my preferred shades of nail colourings, which are rather dark to say the least, but decided to take the chance and give the product a try.

I'm so glad I did. I have found the pads to be extremely effective at removing nail polish and varnish, irrespective of the 'depth' of colour being removed from the fingernails. As you would expect, I find that paler colours are much easier to remove than darker or deeper shades.

I have found that one single Conditioning Nail Polish Remover Pad can actually be used on both sides, so this helps in terms of the product being economical. I find too that one single pad can be used repeatedly over the surface of the fingernail and it will continue to do its job well, removing every last trace of the dark colouring, irrespective of how much 'staining' has occurred to the cotton pad's surface. This is a significant difference to plain cotton wool pads that really need to be discarded after a couple of 'swipes' across the surface of the nail, as they are so absorbent and easily 'soak up' the coloured varnish. If this varnish-soaked cotton wool pad is continually dragged across the fingernail and surrounding tip, then there will usually be annoying 'bleeding' and staining of the coloured nail polish around the area surrounding the fingernail, but also on the fingertips of the other hand, the one holding the pad to remove the polish. All this does is add to the time and effort required, onto the already rather time-consuming task of removing nail polish in the first place, so I do find it is just better to discard the stained cotton wool quite early on. Due to these experiences, I was surprised - but pleasantly so - at the apparent 'robustness' of the Boots Nail Polish Remover pads and their ability to be reused much more than other products.

The pads are circular in shape and are very thin, particularly when compared to a cotton wool pad or something similar. That is not to say that they are so thin that they rip or tear whilst in use, and in actual fact I don't recall this ever happening. The pads are coated with a liquid which is presumably a rather heavy duty nail polish remover product and this has a slightly greasy feel to it that is not particularly pleasant I must admit. I do find that there is also quite a strong smell evident whilst the pads are being used and this lingers on the hands after use too, even though I always scrub my hands after removing nail varnish. I do find that any other nail polish remover products that I use regularly feel rather unpleasant on the skin's surface, and most of them have a very strong and often unpleasant aroma too, so I won't be deducting any marks from the product rating score for the results found here. I find that the rather strong aroma, together with the greasy feel of the remover solution is greatly reduced after washing my hands in a warm water and soap solution, and it fades so greatly a short time afterwards that I can hardly detect it at all.

I find that two of the nail polish remover pads is more than sufficient to adequately remove the nail polish from one hand, so perhaps this will give you an idea of how effective the product is, particularly when you consider the depth of the colours being removed from my fingernails. I would have therefore thought that consumers who wear lighter or pale colours on their nails may well get away with less pads being required for each removal procedure, but this will depend on the strength and amount of coats of polish applied, in my opinion.

Whilst I am on the subject, it may well be worth noting that I rarely wear only one coat of colour on my nails, finding that two or even three coats of colour will provide a much more robust coating on my nail's surface. This should be kept in mind when considering the effectiveness of the pad's removal qualities.

The pads are acetone free and so may prove to be suitable for certain types of false nail or nail extensions, although this will depend on the type and style, of course.

In terms of the pads being 'conditioning' I have to say that I have noticed a significant difference to the texture of my nails in terms of dryness after using the Boots pads in place of my usual nail polish remover. I find that my usual nail polish remover product can be very harsh and it feels as though it is actually 'stripping' the colour from the nail's surface. The Boots pads, in comparison, feel as though they are much more gentle than this, providing a protective coating over the nails' surface by way of the oily liquid that the pads are soaked in. This does go some way to feeling as though the nails are being protected from the harsh chemicals contained in a product like this, so I don't feel the 'Conditioning' claim of this product has been particularly exaggerated.

In summary, I am delighted with the performance of the Boots Conditioning Nail Polish Remover Pads and it is a product that I have already repurchased, as a result of my positive experiences. I can honestly say that this product will now be a regular addition to my collection of cosmetics, such is my delight at the product's effectiveness... Not only has the product made the laborious task of removing nail colours much less time-consuming, but it has allowed this horrid task to be done with ease... excellent!

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They get the job done, eventually.

I bought these nail polish remover pads from the Boots in Manchester airport earlier this year. We were just about to fly off to Cyprus on honeymoon (how long ago that seems now!), and I remembered I had packed nail polish but nothing to remove it with.

The pads cost £1.50 for 150 pads, and they come in a screw top pot which is a very convenient size for travelling. The packaging has changed a little lately so the pot is black with grey labels, rather than being blue.

Boots claim that these pads remove every last trace of nail polish, whilst conditioning the nail at the same time. They are acetone free, which is a claim made by a lot of manufacturers of such products, although I'm not entirely sure why this is important. I guess this just ensures the nails don't get damaged or end up being dried out.

Most people probably don't need instructions for using these, but the back of the pot tells us to firstly wipe over each nail once, and then go over each nail with a firmer rubbing action until the nail polish has gone. Anyone with common sense could have worked this out for themselves no doubt.

My experience of these pads wasn't great if I'm honest. I like the idea of them in theory, being a convenient and easy way to remove nail varnish. They're especially handy for taking on holiday because they can't leak in your bag in the same way as liquid nail varnish remover. Although they're more expensive than the liquid version, they do have convenience on their side.

In use, these pads are a bit annoying. Firstly, there's the issue of trying to get them out of the pot without picking up a few at a time. This is because they are incredibly thin and moist, and so they all stick together in the pot until you separate them. I also found the smell a little irritating, it wasn't really unpleasant but was quite strong and smell slightly of cucumber.

Once you've managed to peel a pad off the pile, you are then faced with attempting to remove nail varnish whilst your hands are wet and sticky. The pads are so moist, they soak your fingers so it's not overly easy to control your use of the pads. The consistency is a bit like baby oil, which I hate the feel of so I wasn't so keen on these.

In terms of effectiveness, the pads aren't as effective as normal nail varnish remover. They take a fair bit of scrubbing at each nail to remove every last trace, and then leave your nails feeling oily and horrible so you feel compelled to wash your feet. For me, this kind of defeats the point of them being convenient as it's not ideal using these on the go.

All in all, these do get the job done, and they are convenient for holiday, but they're also expensive and not as effective as liquid nail varnish, so I wouldn't seek them out again. Not until the next holiday anyway.

(This review also appears on Ciao under the username Gingerkitty)

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See Review

I wear nail varnish quite a lot especially on my toe nails, I can't actually reach to paint them myself due to bad arms so when it comes to taking it off again I do struggle to reach so thought I would try these pads as they are already soaked in the nail polish remover and thought they might be easier to do.

I was totally wrong, not only were they difficult to use they didn't seem to have that much polish remover on each pad and I was going to have to scrub for ages to get it off which is something I find really difficult. I was hoping I might be able to put one of these pads on top of my toe nail and then rub it somehow with my other foot to save me stretching and being in pain but it just wasn't working, the remover did not seem very strong and it was taking ages for it to melt or whatever it does. I was also making a bit of a mess on my other foot. I gave up in the end and went back to having a cotton wool ball soaked in normal nail polish remover which I found worked quicker as I could soak it a bit more.

I didn't want to waste the rest of the pot of these as they are quite expensive for what they are so the next time I painted my finger nails I tried one of these to get rid of the tiny bits where I had got varnish where I didn't want it. I found this quite easy to do using these pads as they are thin and you can bend it over to get a nice edge and be able to rub close to the edge of the nail to get varnish off the side of my finger. I had to be careful that the rest of the pad wasn't touching the nails on the other hand while I was rubbing so it didn't soften those up as well. I still think it would have been just as easy with a bottle and a small bit of cotton wool or even a cotton bud.

One thing I think this pack is good for though is if you want to keep them in your hand bag along with the bottle of nail varnish you are wearing as then if you are out and chip a nail you can just use one of these to smooth out the chip and then paint over the top and you don't get that ridge you normally do when trying to repair nail varnish chips.

I don't think I would bother buying them again, they cost me £1.50 for ten pads which is 10p each and a bottle of nail polish remover would have been just as cheap and would have lasted longer than 15 wipes. It was worth a try though.

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A handy holiday option.

I bought Boots' Conditioning Nail Polish Remover Pads one day when I worked at a cafe and suddenly realised on the bus to work that I'd forgotten to take my nail polish off after my day off - and polish was absolutely forbidden. So I rushed into Boots, and decided that these would be the easiest and quickest option. They definitely were, and there are certain situations in which they are very handy, but I wouldn't pick these as an everyday option purely due to the price.

These remover pads cost £1.50 for a pack of 15 - this isn't much cheaper than brandname ones, as Boots charge £2.10 for a pack of 20 Quickies brand pads. Still, it's at the cheaper end of the remover pad market. The product basically seems like ordinary cotton wool pads - perhaps more densely packed than usual - pre-soaked in nail polish remover. It's quite a simple concept! These ones come in a small round plastic tub, with a screw-off lid, and are acetone free which should help with the 'conditioning' claim in their name. They've changed the packaging since I got my pack, but the instructions on the bottom of my tub explain that you should "firstly wipe each nail with a single stroke of the pad. Then work back through each nail with a firm rubbing action to remove all traces of varnish." I actually didn't notice this until I got the tub out to look at just now! I've always just done one finger at a time, and never had a problem removing the varnish, but perhaps it would be slightly easier using the suggested method. The main difference I noticed from using ordinary nail polish remover on cotton wool was the smell! These pads don't smell at all like standard nail polish remover, and are actually reasonably pleasant - they have a fruity smell, like some kind of shampoo or soap. This is definitely an advantage.

The pads do remove nail polish quite quickly and easily. I did find it quite difficult to only pick out one pad at a time, as they are just stacked on top of one another in the tub and stick together, and as they are thin it is easy to think you've got one when in reality you have picked up two! It's quite annoying, as there are only a few per pack and you don't want to waste them. I do think they're very effective though, and I haven't had to use more than one or two per hand (depending on how thick a layer of polish I had on, and whether it was glittery, which always makes it more difficult to remove). The scent is quite pleasant, and they certainly don't dry out my nails and cuticles. However, my fingertips do feel a little odd - maybe oily? - after I've used them, and the residue does still taste bitter as usual, so I always wash my hands afterwards.

Overall, I would say they are a handy product to take on holiday, or have in your bag whenever you think you'll need to take your polish off. There's no risk of spillage with these as there would be with carrying a bottle of remover with you! Due to the high price compared to using standard remover (The remover I get is £2.20 for 200ml, plus £1 for 100 cotton wool pads at the pound shop, and I could probably soak every pad with that much remover), these pads aren't a great choice for everyday use. I keep them around for when I'll be going away though, and I'm glad to have them!

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Worth buying.

These Nail Polish Remover Pads are handy, because you don't need to purchase separate nail varnish remover, as well as cotton wool to help remove your varnish, because the nail varnish remover and the applicator come together here, to form one handy product.

The pads come in a purple disk-shaped plastic container, which is quite solid and very durable. You can take a pad out of the plastic tub, remove your varnish, throw the used pad away and then put the plastic lid back on the tub with the remaining pads in it - safe in the knowledge that they won't dry out or lose their function - because the plastic tub ensures that they retain their moisture.

The pads themselves are quite wet to touch and each pad seems well made - they are quite difficult to rip apart - which means that you can get a fair amount of use out of each one. I can usually get away with using one pad on all ten fingers and/or toes. They are very effective at removing varnish - even if it's painted on thickly and you have a number of layers.

There are 15 pads in each tub which costs around £1.55. I think this is reasonably good value, because each nail varnish removing session ends up costing approximately 10 pence.

When I've used these pads my hands often feel oily and they also smell of the remover - which has a strong chemically scent.

Boots Conditioning Nail Polish Remover Pads also acetone free - so you can use them on acrylic nails as well as real ones. They also contain lanolin and vitamin E and I can see why the product makers claim these pads conditioning, because there is plenty of moisture within each one. However I find that a good hand cream hydrates me nails more effectively.

Overall I'd say that this is a really handy product and it's good for girls on the go, because it's a compact and it allows you to remove your varnish quickly, without any fuss. Four stars.

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***THE REMOVER PADS***The Nail Polish Remover pads come in a round tub with a screw lid. The tub is a pale blue and white in colour and on the front it states that the pads are Acetone free and that there are a total of 15 pads in the tub. On the back are the usage tip and a list of the ingredients. It also states that the product should be kept out of reach of children and not to use on artificial nails and not to place on polished, painted or plastic surfaces. These cost me £1.55 from Boots which meant I also collected 4 points for my boots advantage card. They also do Moisturising Nail Polish Remover pads also in a tub and these are the same price. These are only available to buy from Boots as this is their own brand.

***USING THE PADS***The usage tip on the back states wipe each nail with a single stroke of the pad and then work back through each nail with a firm rubbing action to remove all traces of varnish. When opening the tub I was expecting a very strong smell, how-ever seeing as these are acetone free they don't have the smell of some other nail varnish removers which can be over-powering. They smell fairly pleasant and it's a smell that I could put up with. The pads are a white circular shape and very thin which makes them hard to separate from each other. When eventually separating one from the other pads, (which I did by pinching it with my nails), the pads felt quite wet. I followed the usage tips on the back on the tub and the varnish came of quickly and easily with minimal effort. The pad did feel quite wet when trying to remove the varnish how-ever it left my nails feeling smooth and looking healthy. I used a total of 2 pads one for each hand as I find that if you are taking a dark coloured nail varnish off the pads can get messy and will leave a slight colour on your fingers; how-ever this does just wash off.

***OVERALL OPINION***I thought these pads were a very good price and they are very handy to pop in a bag and take away with you on holiday. The pads are more convenient rather than a bottle of varnish and cotton wool pads and I think they are quicker to remover varnish as well. The pads have no strong chemical smell and they left my nails looking and feeling smooth and healthy. The pads may work out quite expensive if you use them a lot. I how-ever only use these every so often when I paint my nails so they last me for a few months. There are other nail varnish remover pads available to buy, how-ever I think these so the job better than anything else and this is a product I will continue to use. I'd rather use these than nail varnish remover in a bottle any day!

(review also on ciao)

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Boots nail polish remover pads

I am going on holiday soon and I am looking at ways to conserve my suitcase space. One of the things that I thought I could get rid of was my big bottle of nail varnish remover. However, I still want to have nice toe nails and fingernails as I'm going away for 6 weeks so I bought a tub of Boots Moisturising nail polish remover pads.

The tub is a round disc shape, about two inches across and one inch deep so it has solved my problem of space immediately. What's more you are guaranteed no nasty leaks like you might be from a bottle of nail varnish remover in your suitcase. Boots say these pads remove nail varnish quickly and with no fuss.

There are 15 pads in the tub and each contain lanolin and vitamin E and are acetone free. The pads are all stuck together and you have to peel them apart to get to each one. I would say that they are like this in order to keep them moist and still have the varnish removing properties. The pads are extremely thin but quite strong. I would say it is very hard to tear one of these pads. The pads actually remind me of a communion wafer, they are that thin.

I used one pad to remove whitish polish so it was not a heavy thick red polish or anything like that but I have to say that one pad did all my toes so if you go on that, you can get 15 uses out of one little tub which I think is a bargain. What's more, you did not need excessive rubbing to get the varnish off which was nice. I needed to apply a bit of pressure for more stubborn bits of varnish but nothing too bad.